As many as 43 leaders, including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Narayan Rane and Sarbananda Sonowal, on Wednesday took oath as part of the Cabinet expansion of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. The carefully calibrated exercise was undertaken keeping in view the Assembly elections scheduled for next year in several states and to balance the alliance arithmetic with the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in mind.
In this exercise, 36 new faces have been included, while seven current ministers of state have been promoted and included in the Cabinet. These include Hardeep Singh Puri, R.K. Singh, Anurag Thakur, Kiren Rijiju, G. Kishan Reddy, Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala.
Eight new faces were also given the status of cabinet ministers. Allies were also made ministers in this reshuffle. For the first time, R.C.P. Singh from Janata Dal United was made minister and Pashupati Paras from the Lok Janshakti Party was made minister. Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal was made minister.
Among the important portfolios allocated are that of Union Home Minister Amit Shah who has been given charge of the newly-created Ministry of Cooperation. He will also handle the charge of the ministries of Culture and Tourism and Development of North East.
The most notable inclusion has been Jyotiraditya Scindia, who quit the Congress and joined the BJP in March last year. Sarbananda Sonowal and Narayan Rane, two former chief ministers, have been inducted into the Union Cabinet, too. Meanwhile, Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju and Mansukh Mandaviya also took oath as ministers. Hardeep Singh Puri has been given charge of the ministries of Urban Housing and Petroleum. Jyotiraditya Scindia has been made Minister of Civil Aviation. Pashupati Paras is now Minister for Food Processing. Kiren Rijiju has become the Minister of Law and Justice. Mansukh Mandaviya has been given charge of the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.
Dharmendra Pradhan will take charge as Minister for Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Aswhini Vaishnaw is now Union Minister for Information Technology (IT) and Railways. Union Minister for Commerce Piyush Goyal is being given additional charge of the Ministry of Textiles. He also holds additional charge of the ministries of Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution. Smriti Irani will be the minister in charge of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD). She will be assisted by MoS Dr Munjapara Mahendrabhai. Purshottam Rupala has been given charge of the Ministry of Dairy and Fisheries. Meenakshi Lekhi is now Minister of State (MoS) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Anurag Thakur has been given charge of Ministry of Sports and Youth Development, along with Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. Giriraj Singh will take charge of the Ministry of Rural Development. Bhupender Yadav has been given charge of the Labour Ministry and Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Before the reshuffle and expansion, President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the resignations of 12 ministers, including Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Sadananda Gowda, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, and Santosh Kumar Gangwar.
According to a release from the President’s Secretariat, “On the suggestion of the Prime Minister, the President of India has accepted the resignation of 12 members of the Council of Ministers with immediate effect.” According to a release quoting the President’s Press Secretary, the ministers whose resignations have been accepted include Sadananda Gowda, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Thaawarchand Gehlot, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Prakash Javadekar, and Santosh Kumar Gangwar.
Several other ministers, including Babul Supriyo, Debasree Chaudhuri, Rattan Lal Kataria, Sanjay Dhotre, Pratap Chandra Sarangi (MoS) and Ashwini Chaubey (MoS), also tendered their resignation.
Ravi Shankar Prasar was in-charge of the Ministry of Information Technology along with the Ministry of Law, while Javadekar was in charge of the Ministry of Environment as well as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. In the swearing-in ceremony, President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office and secrecy to all 43 members included in the Council of Ministers in a ceremony held at the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Apart from Prime Minister Modi, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Defense Speaker General Bipin Rawat and many other dignitaries were present on the occasion. After starting his second term as Prime Minister in May 2019 with 57 ministers, Prime Minister Modi has reshuffled and expanded the Union Council of Ministers for the first time.
The average age of the new council of ministers has reduced to 58 years from 61 years previously following the Cabinet reshuffle. Nisith Pramanik (35), the Lok Sabha MP from West Bengal›s Cooch Behar, is the youngest minister to be sworn in, while the oldest member in the council of ministers is 72-year-old Som Parkash. Other ministers below 50 years of age are: Smriti Irani (45), Kiren Rijiju (49), Mansukh Mandaviya (49), Kailash Choudhary (47), Sanjeev Balyan (49), Anurag Thakur (46), Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar (42), Anupriya Singh Patel (40), Shantanu Thakur (38), John Barla (45) and Dr L. Murugan (44).
There are 77 members in the council of ministers now. Soon after the ceremony, PM Modi tweeted congratulating the new ministers. “I congratulate all the colleagues who have taken oath today and wish them the very best for their ministerial tenure. We will continue working to fulfill the aspirations of the people and build a strong and prosperous India,” Prime Minister Modi tweeted after the ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhawan.
WITH AGENCY INPUTS
